<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Decaffeinated by Marksider89</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28639314">Decaffeinated</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marksider89/pseuds/Marksider89'>Marksider89</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Overwatch (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Office, Coffee, F/F, Slice of Life</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:07:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,185</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28639314</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marksider89/pseuds/Marksider89</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Staying up too late can sometimes be a good thing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lena "Tracer" Oxton/Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Decaffeinated</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Lena yawned.  This had been a mistake.  She probably could have just called in sick.  Yet, here she was, struggling to stay awake as she waited to clock in.</p><p>Her friend, Hana, known online as “D.Va”, was one of the fastest rising streamers in the world at the moment.  Lena, herself, had her own streaming channel with a small fanbase.  Hana had texted Lena late last night, asking if she wanted to join her and a few of their other friends in an “Among Us” stream.  Lena had agreed to join, making sure to announce that it would be for a few rounds, as she had to get up early for work.  What had been intended to be ‘just a few rounds’ had quickly turned into <em> six hours</em>, and her heart had sunk into the pit of her stomach when she had noticed how late it was.</p><p>And now, here she was, sitting in the break room at her job, going off of about three hours of sleep.  To make matters worse, she had woken up to find that she was completely out of coffee.  She had considered the gourmet coffee shop next to the office, but it was way too expensive for her.  Her last hope was the coffee machine at work, but when she trudged into the break room, she found that the coffee machine wasn’t working.  She briefly considered falling to her knees and letting out an overly dramatic “Noooo!!” to the heavens, but ultimately decided that it would be too much effort.</p><p>Just as she slumped into one of the break room chairs, the door opened, and she looked up to see the only other coffee drinker in the small office, Amélie Lacroix, with a large to-go cup the gourmet coffee place in her hand.</p><p>Amélie stopped and blinked at her for a few seconds.  Seeing Lena in any other mood than ‘bubbly’ was completely unheard of.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Amélie asked.</p><p>“Huh?” Lena said, blinking up at her.  “Oh, I just didn’t get enough sleep last night.  And the bloody coffee machine’s buggered.” she said with a pout.</p><p>Amélie seemed to think for a moment before walking away.  Lena could hear her remove her coat and rummage around in her locker.  Lena felt a wave of sadness wash over her.  She had met Amélie when she joined the small start-up company five years ago.  Lena had taken one look at the beautiful French woman, and had immediately fallen head over heels, only to be dismayed at the revelation that Amélie was married, a soldier named Gérard, and Lena absolutely <em> refused </em> to be a homewrecker.</p><p>The Amélie she had met that day was quiet, but polite and kind, always smiling at Lena and laughing at her stupid jokes, which never failed to make Lena’s heart flutter.  But one day, she changed.</p><p>Lena had arrived at work one day to find that Jack, the owner, had called everyone together for a meeting.</p><p>“Thank you all for coming.  You may have noticed that Amélie hasn’t been here for the past few days.  This is because her husband, Gérard, was killed in a firefight in Budapest last week.  I have given her a couple of months off so she can make funeral arrangements and sort her affairs, but I’ve let her know that she’s welcome to return to work when she feels she is ready.”</p><p>When Amélie returned a few weeks later, she had noticeably changed.  She had become distant, barely speaking more than was necessary, and rarely smiled or laughed.  It was as if almost all the joy had been sucked out of her.</p><p>Lena’s heart went out to the poor woman.  She offered her condolences when she had returned, but she wanted to do something more for her, but couldn’t really think of anything.  For the first few weeks she gave Amélie her space, only popping in on her to see if there was anything she needed.  As the weeks and months passed, Lena slowly began to try to return their relationship back to what it had been.  Telling jokes, sharing stories, and sharing pictures and videos of the most adorable kittens and puppies she could find on the internet.  It took nearly a year, but when Lena was regaling Amélie the story of how she and her friends had nearly gotten arrested trying to be ghost hunters, she saw Amélie smile.  A genuine smile.  And once again, Lena’s heart did that familiar flutter.</p><p>Lena’s musings were interrupted when she realized there was something being held in her face.  She blinked and recognized it as the credit card specifically for the gourmet coffee shop.  She looked up to see that it was Amélie holding it out to her.</p><p>“Go get yourself whatever you want.  You should have enough time before you need to clock in.”</p><p>Lena carefully took the card, as if it would shatter in her grasp.  “Y-you serious?”</p><p>Amélie nodded and averted her eyes.  “I just don’t like seeing you like this.  Okay?” she said, with the faintest shade of pink dusting her cheeks.</p><p>Suddenly, it was as if a surge of energy passed through Lena.  “OhmygodIcouldkissyouYourthebestLuvThanks!” she blurted out as she ran out the door.</p><p>Amélie watched silently as the door closed.  She shook her head.  <em> ‘If she had the energy to do that, does she really even need the coffee?’ </em> she wondered.</p><p>A few minutes later, just as Amélie was clocking in, Lena reentered the break room, coffee in hand.  She had asked for the most caffeinated coffee they had, in the largest size available.  She glanced at the clock, and gave a mental cheer.  Made it back with just a couple of minutes to spare.</p><p>“Thank you so much, Luv!” she said, handing back the credit card, “You're a life saver.” She added before taking a long sip.  When she finished, she noticed that Amélie was staring at her with a strange look on her face that Lena had never seen before.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>A tiny smile graced Amélie’s lips.  “Well, did you not say, ‘I could kiss you’?”</p><p>Lena blinked like an owl and her face turned beet red.  “Uh...I mean...I wouldn’t want to...H.R. wouldn’t...I was just...I didn’t mean...If you don’t…”</p><p>She was interrupted by Amélie’s lips pressing against her own.  The kiss only lasted a quarter of a second before Amélie pulled back, the light dusting of pink on her cheeks again, and made a quick exit.</p><p>Lena stood there in shock for a moment, her tired brain desperately trying to process what just happened.  Somewhere in the back of her mind, she screamed at herself that she would be late to punch in if she waited much longer.  Shaking herself from her stupor, she leapt at the time clock and punched in.  As she left the break room, she silently hoped that she wouldn’t run into Amélie for at least a little while.  It was way too early, she was way too tired and lacking caffeine, and way, <em> waaay </em> too gay to deal with that right now.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>